


if you want me, girl, let me know

by constellatory



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 12:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4961290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constellatory/pseuds/constellatory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang goes out to sing karaoke in Okina City. Chaos ensues when Yu is convinced to make a confession through song. Cheesy, 90's-era American pop song. It goes as well as you'd expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A very, incredibly happy birthday to bigbigtruck, the inspiration for this monster and an inspiration to me personally. Thank you for all you do and have done, and I hope your birthday is wonderful.

> Okina City…

> You decided to go out with your friends.

It had been Rise’s idea to go. She’d shown up at school on Friday morning with a flier declaring the grand opening of a brand new karaoke bar in Okina and insisted that everyone go.

“The managers are giving me special access because I performed at a club they used to work at!” she’d chirped, all sly effervescence. “So we get a private room all to ourselves and free drinks all night!”

When everyone had looked at each other, and then at her, she’d thoughtfully amended, “And they definitely won’t be alcoholic.”

So it was the next night that Yu found himself stepping off the train in Okina City and waving to the others as he approached the group. He’d been running late and missed the first train they all hopped on, and he started to make sheepish apologies as he drew close.

“Sorry, sorry,” he started, “Nanako wanted to—”

“Hey, partner, don’t even worry about it,” Yosuke interrupted him, his tone as good natured as his smile. He clapped Yu on the shoulder, and no one except Yu noticed when it seemed to linger there an extra second or two. “Really,” Naoto added, “you were only a few minutes behind us.”

“Nanako-chan?” Teddie piped up from around Kanji, causing the taller boy to lift his arm and lean away with a look of vague irritation. “She couldn’t come?”

Yu smiled and shook his head. “It’s too late for her to be out. Maybe next time we go, we can find a place that’s open during the afternoon and bring her along.”

“We’d love to have her,” Yukiko chimed in, with one of those gracious-yet-genuine smiles that lit up her whole face. Chie bounced on her toes and nodded her firm assent. “Yeah! If they’re any good at all, they’ll have the theme song from _The Final Punch,_ and I can teach her all the lyrics—”

“Only you would think that’s a good idea,” Yosuke said, exasperated.

“Oi, senpais, shouldn’t we get going?” Kanji jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the karaoke place. “Rise, you said they reserved a time for us, right?”

“That’s right!” Rise yelped with sudden alarm. But at once her grin was back, and she looped her arm through one of Yu’s and started to drag him along. He let her, though not without a small noise of surprise. The others trailed after, talking and laughing amongst themselves. “Come on, we’d better hurry! If we miss our time, they’ll give up our room!”

* * *

> You made it to the karaoke bar just in time...

> The atmosphere is warm and inviting.

> Everyone seems to be having fun!

“Me next, me next!” Teddie shouted, waving his arms over his head before reaching for the song catalog.

“Ted, no one wants to hear you sing.”

“You’re just jealous of my talent for making the _ladies_ swoon.” Teddie grinned in a way he seemed to think was coy as he succeeded at snatching the catalog from Yosuke’s grip, and even managed a wink in Yukiko’s direction at the same time. She flushed red and cut her gaze to one side, shaking her head.

“You’re just going to sing something weird no one wants to hear!”

“I want to hear it!” Rise’s look was a dangerous one as she glared at Yosuke, leaning in close to Teddie and helping him go over the options. The two were soon in deep and whispered conference, alternatively giggling and humming thoughtfully as they mulled over their choices. Yosuke gave up, throwing his hands in the air and leaning back in his seat.

“It won’t be so bad if you just try it, you know…”

“H-Hell with that! I’m not… I can’t sing!”

Naoto’s expression was gentle as she sat forward and tried to coax Kanji into participating. “It’s just karaoke. No one’s going to judge you. Besides, I’m sure you sing just fine.”

“Why don’t _you_ sing, then?”

“W-well… that’s…” Naoto had turned pink. That made _Kanji_ turn pink, and suddenly neither of them were looking at each other. Chie, sitting opposite Kanji, groaned and kicked her legs, letting her head fall back on her shoulders.

“Come on, someone needs to start _something!_ It’s been too long since the last song. It’s too quiet!”

“Quiet? Chie, I can barely hear you.”

“ _Yeah,_ that’s the point! You shouldn’t be able to hear me at all!”

“What? You mean for once you _don’t_ want people to hear you from three blocks over? _Ow,_ hey!”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Come on, guys,” Yu interjected, making placating gestures as he leaned over across Yosuke to try and calm Chie down. “Still, I agree. Teddie, Rise?”

“A duet!” Teddie cried out. Rise had picked up their second microphone and was perched on the edge of her seat next to him, smiling slightly and doing a passable job of not seeming too nervous about the idea. Yu sat straighter in his seat, giving her an inscrutable look that she, for some reason, seemed to understand. She smiled a little more broadly, then took a deep breath and affixed a grin to her face. It had all the wattage and charm of an idol’s smile. Teddie reached over to tap their selection into the room’s touch screen panel, and off the two of them went.

Interested only because Rise was singing, Yosuke was sitting forward now with a bright grin. The only person in the room who noticed Yu was looking at him for maybe a few moments too long was Naoto.

Once the song was over Yosuke let out a whoop and sat back again. “Alright! That’s our Risette for you. You guys were great.”

“I think you meant we were _bear_ riffic,” Teddie amended with a sniff, but he couldn’t help a pleased smile anyway. Rise, a bit pink in the face from her performance, seemed suddenly energized.

“Senpai, you haven’t sung a song yet!”

“Ah…” Yu sat there with his hands in his lap, blinking as the song catalogue was foisted upon him. “I don’t…”

“Ohhh yes you do.” Chie unceremoniously clambered over Yosuke’s lap, prompting a spluttered protest which she staunchly ignored, and plopped herself down next to Yu. “Come on. It’s my turn to help someone pick something out.”

“Like I wasn’t going to offer…” Yosuke muttered. The only one who heard him was Naoto, and now she was staring at him, instead.

Kanji leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Naoto, something up?”

“I’m not sure,” Naoto muttered back, pitching her voice low and keeping her focus on Yu and Yosuke, who were both staring down at the song catalogue now firmly planted in Chie’s lap instead. “But I have a feeling we might see something interesting before the night is out.”

“Something interesting? What’s that supposed t’mean?”

Naoto sat for a moment, one finger pressed to her chin. On the other side of the room’s one long, low table, Yosuke was gesturing broadly, yelling out the name of a song, and earned a punch to the rib cage for his efforts. Yu and Yukiko dissolved into laughter at the same time as Yosuke wilted, hugging his stomach and probably groaning something about his spleen. On their side of the room, Rise was watching Yu with pensively narrowed eyes and Teddie was watching Naoto.

“Nao-chan, what’s—”

“Shh.” Naoto graced Teddie with a quiet smile that silenced him immediately, and tilted her head as she looked at Rise. All it took was one lift of her eyebrows for Rise to pout, staring down at her lap and turning a bit pink. 

“Heeeey, Yu, how about this one?”

“I don’t know the words.”

“Partner, it’s karaoke! You don’t need to, that’s the whole point!”

Teddie glanced from Naoto to Rise to Kanji and back to Naoto, and she nodded at him. With dawning realization, Teddie bounded to his feet.

“I want to hear a duet from Yosuke and Chie!”

At the simultaneous indignant cries of “ _What?!_ ” Naoto rose smoothly to her feet and picked her way carefully towards the door. “I’m getting a bit of fresh air.” There was no mistaking it; she fixed her gaze squarely on Yu, still smiling. “Senpai, would you care to join me?”

Yu, caught squarely in the middle of a newfound Yosuke-Chie Karaoke Brawl Throwdown, found himself ridiculously grateful for the offer. Carefully extricating himself from the middle of the feud, he made his way towards the door and vanished outside with Naoto.

Rise slid over to Kanji on the couch and petulantly leaned against his shoulder, looping her arm through his.

“Hey, w-what’s—”

“I wanted it to be me,” Rise murmured, and the genuinely downcast tone to her voice and expression kept Kanji from flailing in his attempts to get away from her. Instead he stilled, watching her with uncertain concern.

“Rise, what’s—”

“Duet!” she suddenly cried, standing and joining Teddie at his side. Kanji watched her in total bewilderment, then stared over at Yosuke and Chie. This time, _he_ was the only person to notice that Yosuke’s gaze was lingering on the room’s now closed door for a few seconds too long.

The moment of realization...

... never came.

“Man, I don’t get what’s goin’ on at all.”

* * *

“Thanks for the save, Naoto,” Yu said once the two of them were outside. They’d left the karaoke bar completely, and Yu was enjoying the feel of the chill evening air on his skin as he tilted his chin back to stare at the quick-approaching sunset.

“I have to admit,” Naoto said, with that same infuriatingly indecipherable smile Yu couldn’t identify still firmly in place, “it wasn’t an entirely altruistic impulse. I had something I wanted to ask you.”

“Hm?” Yu turned towards her, gamely matching her smile with one of his own. “What’s up?”

“Is there something going on between you and Yosuke-senpai?”

Whatever question he was expecting to hear, it apparently wasn’t that. The look of shock on his face would have been comical on anyone else, but Naoto didn’t laugh. Merely watched as Yu seemed to cycle through a number of emotions in rapid fire: surprise, mortification, embarrassment, uncertainty, begrudging acceptance, and rueful resignation. It was very gratifying to her detective instinct and very bizarre to her regular Naoto instinct to witness.

“No,” he finally shrugged. “I guess that’s sort of the problem.”

“A problem? Why is it...”

Naoto found herself trailing off as Yu simply looked at her. Something about the depth of color in his eyes made heat flare high in her cheekbones, and she found all at once that she understood completely.

“ _Oh._ ”

Yu shrugged again, a quiet gesture of knowing resignation. “I’m surprised you noticed. I’ve been trying to be discreet about it for a while. And it’s alright. I’m not really expecting...” He paused, uncharacteristically struggling with his words. Where was his expression when he needed it? “Anything.”

“Maybe you’re not, senpai. But I think Yosuke-senpai might be.”

At that moment, Rise exited the bar, walking over to the pair with her arms wrapped around her body to ward off the wintry cold without her jacket.

“I got tired of Yosuke and Chie barking at each other,” she grumbled, not lifting her gaze to meet Yu’s. “Naoto-kun, come back inside, please? I want company!”

“Me?” Naoto seemed taken aback, and then slightly ashamed of _being_ taken aback. “Of course I...”

“Good!” Rise planted her hands on Naoto’s shoulders, spun the other girl around, and pushed her towards the door. “I’ll be right there, okay?”

“S-Sure...” Naoto glanced back uncertainly, her eyes flicking to Yu’s face, but when he gave her a barely-there nod, she surrendered with a sigh and disappeared inside the doors. This left Yu and Rise alone long enough for her to plant her hands on her hips, lean forward towards him, and wink in an unmistakably flirty way.

“Yu-senpai, do you like me?”

Yu froze.

Rise watched him for a long moment, then heaved a sigh and let her hands fall by her sides. When he started to make gestures as if to apologize, even just to shake his head and somehow begin to explain himself, she stopped him by stepping up close and placing a gentle hand on his arm. Even in defeat she was gracious and poised.

“I thought so.” But she didn’t seem _too_ put out, if the fond, slightly wry smile on her face was any indication. “It’s okay. I was hoping you might return my feelings, but ... you already like someone else, don’t you?”

“Rise...”

“It’s really okay.” Now her smile was there in force, warm and genuine and everything he really did like so much about her. His feelings must have showed on his face, because Rise laughed and reached up to press a finger to his lips before he could protest.

“You’ve taught me a lot of things, senpai,” she said gently. “And one of those things was that I can’t be afraid of trying to be who I am. No matter what, I’ll always have that. Even if Yosuke-senpai is the one who gets to have you.”

Rise laughed again at the rise of color in Yu’s face. “What is this, all of a sudden? First Naoto, now you... how did you even figure it out?”

“So you’re saying it _is_ true? You like Yosuke-senpai?”

Yu rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly at Rise’s renewed peals of laughter. “I walked right into that one, didn’t I.”

“That was the point!” With all the friendly exuberance she could muster, which was quite a significant amount, Rise looped her arm through his again and started them walking. “So now you can’t ever deny it. You have a thing for Yosuke-senpai!”

“Yeah, but...”

“You weren’t planning on telling him, were you?” Yu looked down at her and was not surprised by the shrewd look she was giving him in return. That intuition of hers was something he admired about her.

“No. I didn’t really see a point. Yosuke’s more interested in you than he’ll ever be in me.”

Rise pulled a face, crinkling her nose and making Yu laugh. “We’ll see about that! It’s not that I don’t like Yosuke-senpai, but he’s not my type. Besides, I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit, senpai. Or maybe it’s _him_ you’re not giving enough credit.”

“What?”

“Come on! I’ve got a great idea. This is what you’ll do...”

With a tug on his arm, Rise pulled Yu down so she could whisper in his ear.

“Rise-chan, Narukami-kun, what’s...” Chie stopped in her tracks as she exited the karaoke bar, stunned into silence by fact that Yu actually had a light dusting of pink high across his cheekbones. Rise, on the other hand, looked like the cat who swallowed the mouse, her grin bright and delightfully sneaky. “Uh... am I interrupting something here? Cuz I can go...”

“Nope!” Rise bounded over to the door, dragging Yu haphazardly behind her and not seeming to notice when he almost stumbled. “We were just finishing up!”

Chie shot Yu a look as Rise released him and dashed back inside. “Was there _really_ nothing going on here?”

“That’s a good question,” Yu replied, dazed almost beyond words. “But... I think so? Something’s _about_ to go on, and I’m not sure how much say I have in it...”

“What? That’s not like you.” Yu lifted his eyebrows at her frank address, and noted the hands she now had braced on her hips with a small note of inward amusement. “Of course you have a say in it. You’re always the one leading _us_ around by the nose, not the other way around! Whatever’s going on, I’m sure you can handle it.”

Finally Yu chuckled, the sound of it relieved. The line of tension in his shoulders finally relaxed, and he stood up straight. He hadn’t realized he’d been slightly hunched over until Chie got him to let go of his nervousness and fears.

“You’re right.” At her questioning look, he simply grinned, with that keen-eyed look of confidence he always had when he was about to go into battle. “Come on. Like Rise just told me, it’s show time.”

* * *

Back inside the room, pandemonium ruled. Yukiko was on her feet delivering a fervent power ballad, Teddie was cheering her on, and Kanji was shouting to be heard over the din that _I ain’t dumb, dammit!_ Yosuke was sitting low in his seat, arms folded over his chest, and seemed visibly torn between pouting and being amused at Yukiko’s all-out performance. Chie, upon walking in the room, immediately burst into a fit of laughter and bounded over to show some support for her best friend. This only made Yukiko dissolve in a flurry of snorting giggles, and the song finished without her.

“Did you want a turn to sing, senpai?” Naoto was holding one of the microphones out to Yu. The mysterious smile on his face got a couple of heads to turn as Yu graciously, finally, accepted. Rather than retaking his seat, he crossed the room, coming to a stop at the end of the table with his back to the screen. Whatever song he was about to sing, he apparently knew it by heart. 

“What’s he doing?” Yukiko whispered. Chie shrugged helplessly.

But Rise knew what was up. With a triumphant flourish, she tapped an option on the song selection screen. Yu bowed his head solemnly over the mic, and just before the song started to play, he fixed the room with a _look._ It was the kind of look that made everyone else sit up straighter, suddenly unable to look away from their leader. Several hearts in the room took a tumble.

“This is for you.”

“For _who?_ ” Kanji started to mutter to no one before Rise elbowed him in the gut.

_It’s tearin’ up my heart when I’m with you..._

“Is he really singing in English?” “Figures! He’s like, fluent!” “Do you guys need a translation...?” “The lyrics are on the damn screen!”

_But when we are apart I feel it too..._

“But who is sensei singing it for? It can’t be... sensei’s demonstrating his Casanova side for one of the girls?!” “What?! He’d _better_ not be!” “Chie, calm down...” 

_And no matter what I do, I feel the pain..._

“Hey, uh, guys? Seriously, who’s senpai singin’ this for?” “You’ll see, Kanji.”

_With or without you._

Yu struck a pose, one hand in the air curled around his microphone. Everyone stared. And just like that, he began to dance. Never once did his expression betray anything but the utmost seriousness and concentration.

The room erupted. Kanji’s hollering and Yosuke’s laughter competed for loudest sound in the room after the music itself. Rise and Teddie formed their own miniature cheerleading squad, hoarsely yelling into the din as they cheered their leader on. Naoto didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands, so she just sat there with one pressed over her mouth while Yukiko and Chie clutched each other and hovered on the knife’s edge between mortification and hysterical giggles. Yu, meanwhile, simply commanded the room and performed his heart out. 

It would have been impossible, really, not to notice his focus.

_Baby I don’t understand just why we can’t be lovers..._

One by one, expressions across the room began to cloud into confusion, shift into surprise, morph into outright shock, and then fade into understanding as eyes would shift to a figure sitting towards the back of the room. The only two who were not overcome by this mortifying process of mixed feelings were Rise and Naoto, who instead watched each other with small smiles and smaller shrugs.

_If you want me, girl, let me know... I am down on my knees..._

At that point, Yu climbed up on the table in the middle of the room and actually got down on his knees, evoking a renewed chorus of shrieks and hollers.

Yukiko was first. Her moment of realization came when she followed the line of Yu’s eyes, and she gave Chie’s ankle a sharp, sideways kick. She smothered the other girl’s protest by whispering in her ear, and that’s when Chie’s realization happened with a strangled gasp and an exclamation of _no way!_

_It’s tearin’ up my heart when I’m with you..._

Teddie was next. He’d already realized something was going on, so when he beseeched Rise with shining eyes, she caved to inevitability and whispered in his ear. Kanji, watching Teddie’s eyes grow to the size of saucers, turned to demand from Naoto in whispered but heated tones just what the hell was going on in here. Naoto, somewhat preoccupied with being dazed by the fact that Yu had slid his glasses on to the line _no matter what I do, I feel the pain_ and somehow managed to make his lenses flash even in this low light, had to take a moment to collect herself before answering in a low murmur.

The last person in the room to realize what was going on was Yosuke. Perhaps because he wasn’t looking at the others as they all figured out exactly who Yu was singing to. The entire time, he only had eyes for his partner. Just like the only person Yu had eyes for was Yosuke. As Yu moved to the beat, two buttons of his shirt popped open (“When did that even happen?!” “Shush!”) and glasses rakishly perched on his nose, singing his heart out with the mic clutched in a white knuckled hand, Yosuke watched with eyes wide. He’d very slowly gone from laughter to surprise to embarrassed outrage and then just to white-faced silence, steadily sitting up straighter in his seat as the performance went on. Yu hadn’t stayed on the table, because of course he hadn’t; he couldn’t have pulled off a more perfectly choreographed dance number if he’d had it all planned out for him in advance and practiced it for a week straight. Even Rise was impressed by how smooth and well-prepared his dance moves seemed.

It wasn’t _completely_ perfect. By the end of the song he was tiring out, panting a little keep up with both singing and dancing, but he did an admirable job of finishing the song. For the final two lines he just stood still, back in his starting position of having his back to the screen facing the rest of the room. His face was unusually serious and so suddenly sincere that some of the others shifted in their seats, feeling awkward to see it.

_And no matter what I do I feel the pain, with or without you._

The song came to an end. Silence reigned, or at least, it reigned as much as it could in a karaoke bar, which was not much, because music was filtering in from plenty of other sources and filling the room with background sound. But everyone could still hear Yu’s panting, and no one said a word as Yu and Yosuke stared one another down. Eyes slid between faces as the rest of the group wondered who would break the silent stalemate first. For a moment, it looked like their normally stalwart leader would fail first. The longer the silence went on, the more his expression shifted towards something like guilt, or at least chagrin. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, though, Yosuke beat him to the punch, with arms folded over his chest and a truly irritated expression on his face.

“Are you freaking kidding me?!”

“Uh...” Yu looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was a new and not entirely good look for him.

“Outside. Now.” Yosuke stood, stormed across the room, and seized Yu by the wrist. Before anyone could say another word, the two boys had stumbled their way out the door.

Rise was the one to break the silence that ensued after _that._

“Senpai still had the microphone,” she mused. “We’re going to get in trouble if they catch him.”


	2. Chapter 2

Yu found himself grateful once again for the cold snap of the evening air outside giving him space to breathe and clear his head. Even he couldn’t believe what he’d just done, as much fun as it had been. Still, though, maybe he really had taken it too far. Staring at Yosuke’s back as his partner stalked ahead of him down the street, that idea was hard not to believe. For the moment, Yu kept quiet, nervously palming his accidentally stolen microphone between both hands before deciding to tuck it into his back pocket. He was waiting for the outburst he thought was likely coming. Something about that being weird coming from a guy, probably, or—

“Yu, seriously, what the hell was that?!”

Ah. There it was. Yosuke had finally whirled around, and his face was red. Probably due to anger or annoyance, at this point.

“It was Rise’s idea,” Yu said, with the slightly guilty look of someone who was not at all coerced into that incredibly mortifying thing he just did and in fact may have honestly (really) enjoyed.

“An American pop song from the 90’s was Rise-chan’s idea?!”

“Well, no,” Yu admitted, “that part was mine. But she suggested singing a song to you.”

That sobered the other boy up a little, and though still embarrassed beyond all hope of repair, Yosuke at least tried to look a little more serious. “You really wanted to sing something like that for me? ... am I really tearing up your heart, partner?”

Yu choked. “N... uh.”

“Gotcha.” Yosuke winked, suddenly all smiles.

“Jerk.” Yu bumped their shoulders, meeting Yosuke’s grin with one of his own. “But I had that coming.”

“That and a lot more! ... wait, that didn’t come out right. I mean you deserve a lot more _abuse_ for... wait, no, dammit!”

Yu was outright laughing by now, and took it in stride when Yosuke shoved him, wheeling a few steps back and rubbing a hand over his flushed face. There he paused, trying to gather his scattered thoughts.

“You’re not mad?”

“Mad?”

“I thought you were. Back there—”

“Well, I was! Kind of.”

“Kind of?”

Yosuke huffed a breath and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking away. He was still very red. Finally, and for the first time, Yu realized he wasn’t flushed from anger, or even just embarrassment. It was something else.

“Look, you just kind of sprung that on me back there, alright? And in front of everyone else! With a song like _that!_ How the hell am I supposed to react to that, man? That was weird as hell! Why couldn’t you have just _told_ me or something? In private! _Not_ where everyone else could see?!”

“I...” It was Yu’s turn to be embarrassed, and again he pressed a hand to his face. Yosuke found himself gawking slightly, stunned to find himself watching Yu become _flustered._ Rather seriously, for that matter. Watching Yu Narukami actually lose his cool like this was quite a sight, since Yosuke had never seen Yu get self-conscious around a girl. To see it happen because of _him..._

“I wasn’t sure how. I didn’t think you’d reciprocate, and I wasn’t looking forward to being shot down. Actually, for the longest time, I wasn’t planning on saying anything at all.”

“And this is the night you change your mind?!”

Yu abruptly took a step closer, and Yosuke felt the heat in his face abruptly flame down his neck and rush to his ears, too. The look on his partner’s face was as concentrated and serious as he’d ever seen it, but it was turned entirely on him. All _because_ of him. The feeling was flattering and completely terrifying all at once.

“I don’t want to leave Inaba with any regrets,” he said softly. “The girls helped me make up my mind, too,” he added after a moment’s thought. “Everyone except Yukiko kind of cornered me about it earlier.”

“Seriously?! I can’t believe I missed that... wait, do you mean when Naoto asked you to go outside with her?” When Yu nodded, Yosuke groaned, pressing both hands to his face and wheeling on his heels, taking two big, loping steps away before turning back to face his partner again. 

“So you’ve totally had this planned the whole time, huh.”

“Not the whole time. Just since about ten minutes ago.”

Yosuke sighed explosively, again pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes and groaning in a way that was half a whine. He muttered something under his breath that sounded to Yu, who was straining to listen while trying not to look like he was straining to listen, like _you’ve gotta be kidding me,_ and dropped his hands in order to stare at the sky for a long moment. Long enough that Yu could shift from foot to foot and wonder if this was when he started to apologize. Before he could, Yosuke squared his shoulders and fixed Yu with the kind of look he’d really only imagined in particularly hazy daydreams in class that he’d later convinced himself he didn’t actually have, because it was weird to daydream things like that about your best friend. Right? Except when they really looked at you that way in real, actual life, with soft eyes and inviting smiles and everything that isn’t supposed to be part of the way that boys look at each other.

But it was there. This was real. Yu swallowed.

“I guess since the cat’s out of the bag,” Yosuke started in an embarrassed mumble, smile slung low and rueful-sweet. “I ... might have something to tell you, too.” He took a step closer and stopped abruptly, rubbing the back of his neck. Yu mirrored his movement without thinking, and Yosuke gave a start, looking up at him with wide eyes before breaking out into the kind of grin that would put the sunlight after a storm to shame. “Even though I was mad... I was kinda relieved, too, cuz I thought...”

 _I thought that the moon looks beautiful tonight._ Yu had thought that, once, when the two of them were walking back after a late-night study session. It had been so maudlin, so bookish, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to say it out loud. Even if he thought Yosuke were ready to hear that kind of thing then, he wasn’t sure his never-particularly-studious friend would get the reference. Instead of interjecting Yu held himself still, like even one breath would break whatever spell had come over Yosuke and possessed him to say and do whatever was happening right now in this moment.

“... that the entire time, there’s no way you could be into me or anything,” he finished in a rush, the words tripping over each other in their hurry to get out of him. “Man, you act like such a tease sometimes, and I can’t tell if you’re serious or not! I bet this sounds stupid. But ... I kinda like you too.”

A beat, in which both boys watched each other, their breath puffing into small steam clouds in front of them.

“Jerk.”

Yu started forwards again in a sudden and abortive motion, something more instinctive than thought-through, born of a need to seize on, to breathe in and break into something he was only just beginning to understand. Yosuke mirrored the action after a second’s hesitation, but his motion was both more fluid and slower, surer. When they reached for each other it was simultaneous, but Yu’s smile flickered like sunlight through windblown leaves, uncertain of itself but bright as blinding when it showed through. Yosuke began as the more grounded of them two. He was warm, his laugh and his eyes and his smile, warm as steady-burning candle flame, and his arms were warm too as they circled around Yu’s chest and tugged him close. But he still jumped like he’d been somehow burned when Yu leaned in and captured his lips in a kiss that tasted like fizz and sugar. He stiffened; Yu paused; they hovered, breathing into each other, eyes half-open; and Yosuke did not pull away. When he huffed and tilted his head just so, Yu let his eyes slip shut and kissed him again. Time whiled away into the gloaming sky as they stood there pressed hip to hip, a couple of their fingers tangled gently together.

* * *

“Don’t you think it sounds kind of quiet in there?”

Yu shrugged a little helplessly and tried the door. With a dissonant trill of squawks and a few painful-sounding thumps, Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie all fell away from the door, where they’d apparently been trying to listen at the crack.

“I told you that shit wouldn’t work!” yelled Kanji, half-triumphantly.

“Wh— what were you even _listening_ for?! We were _outside_ entirely! What did you think, we were discussing this in the hallway...?”

“Ah,” Yu interjected mildly in the middle of Yosuke’s incredulous rant, staring down at his friends. “I should have known we’d come back to a bunch of suspicious characters.”

“Hey, who’re you calling suspicious?!”

“Well, we were listening at the door... that's kind of suspicious, right?”

“Don’t support him, Yukiko!”

“Senseiiii, you don’t really think I’m suspicious, do you?! I'm an innocent bear!”

Chatter in the room slowly resumed as Yosuke and Yu retook their seats. This time, the only difference was that everyone noticed when they exchanged a look that was a second too long. Everyone noticed when the sides of their heads brushed together as they leaned in a little close, and in fact, a few hidden smiles may have passed around the room. Everyone noticed when the two boys exchanged grins as bright as hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for how incredibly stupid this entire idea is. I was very sick on the day this idea was born and listening to Tearin' Up My Heart on repeat about sixteen hundred times. Consider it a bit of a love letter to Dancing All Night. Other things I'm sorry for: the entire IT in the same place at one time. A huge, huge thank you to my buddy Showan for her massive assist on Yosuke's dialogue (in that she actually wrote some of it). Brosuke's hard to write.
> 
> Thank you kindly to the three wise friends who soundly outvoted me on this fic's title. Fuck y'all.


End file.
